ABNORMAL EXPRESSION OF CRIPTO AND P53 PROTEIN IN ENDOMETRIAL CARCINOMA AND ITS PRECURSOR LESIONS

Many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes are involved in multistep ca rcinogenesis. Cripto is an epidermal growth factor (EGF) related gene which shares homology with EGF and TGF alpha. The aim of this study wa s to evaluate the role of abnormal p53 and cripto oncogene expression in endometrial carcinogenesis and progression using a hyperplasia carc inoma sequence model. Ninety-six primary endometrial adenocarcinomas a nd 30 hyperplastic tissues of which 7 were atypical (AH), were immunoh istochemically examined for the presence of cripto and abnormal p53 pr otein. Immunopositivity was compared in hyperplastic and carcinoma tis sues and analysed for conventional clinicopathological prognostic vari ables such as grade, depth of myometrial invasion, lymphovascular inva sion, lymph node metastases and clinical stage. Cripto immunoreactivit y was strong in most cases of AH, and endometrial carcinomas revealed 71% overall and 41% strong positivity, while hyperplasias without atyp ia were weakly stained. There was no correlation between cripto expres sion and clinicopathological prognosticators. Abnormal p53 was not obs erved in hyperplasias but AH and carcinomas expressed 14% and 25% over all positivity, respectively. There was a statistically significant co rrelation between the stage of the disease and abnormal p53 accumulati on. Our results suggest that both cripto and p53 may play a role in en dometrial carcinogenesis while abnormal p53 expression is an important parameter for disease progression.